Pennsylvania – Irish in the American Civil Warhttp://irishamericancivilwar.com
Exploring Irish Emigration in the 19th Century United StatesMon, 25 Sep 2017 14:35:04 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8.2http://irishamericancivilwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/cropped-Family-90x90.jpgPennsylvania – Irish in the American Civil Warhttp://irishamericancivilwar.com
3232133117992Hearing the Voices of 19th Century Emigrants: A Case Study of Pension File Affidavitshttp://irishamericancivilwar.com/2017/08/14/hearing-voices-19th-century-emigrants-case-study-pension-file-affidavits/
http://irishamericancivilwar.com/2017/08/14/hearing-voices-19th-century-emigrants-case-study-pension-file-affidavits/#commentsMon, 14 Aug 2017 19:09:36 +0000http://irishamericancivilwar.com/?p=13092Regular readers will be familiar with my use of the Widows and Dependents Pension Files housed in the National Archives as the main building-block for the stories on this site. I contend that these files likely represent the most important source of detailed family-level social history available anywhere in the world on 19th century Irish people....

]]>Regular readers will be familiar with my use of the Widows and Dependents Pension Files housed in the National Archives as the main building-block for the stories on this site. I contend that these files likely represent the most important source of detailed family-level social history available anywhere in the world on 19th century Irish people. The key element in these applications is the affidavit– the sworn statements of prospective pensioners and their supporters. It is in these statements that we gain the most insight into the lives and experiences of these emigrants, and can draw inferences relating to topics such as chain-migration and emigrant community cohesion. I rarely present these affidavits to readers in their original form, choosing instead to source information from them and craft a narrative history of the family. This post takes a different approach. To provide readers with an idea of how these affidavits appear in their original form, I have reproduced a series of them relating to a single Irish emigrant family, the O’Donnells of Co. Donegal. They had their origins on Cruit Island in the Rosses, and settled in Pennsylvania Coal Country. Arranged in chronological order by date of deposition, the affidavits were given across seven years in the 1860s. As you will see, they provide us with a tremendous amount of information on the O’Donnell family in Ireland and America, and also reveal aspects of the Donegal immigrant community of which they formed a part.

Cruit Island, Co. Donegal where the O’Donnells came from (Copyright Christoph, licensed under Creative Commons)

The O’Donnell file was created as a result of the service of John O’Donnell. The 21-year-old from The Rosses had enlisted in the United States Regulars at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on 30th October 1861. A miner by trade, he was described as 5 feet 9 inches in height, with grey eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion. John became a private in Company A of the 3rd Battalion, 18th United States Infantry, and his brief service was in the Western Theater. By 1st April 1862 he had fallen ill, and was left among the sick at Columbus, Tennessee. His situation failed to improve, and had deteriorated so badly by 24th June that he was discharged on a Surgeon’s Certificate at Nashville, Tennessee. The illness that had brought the young Irish immigrant low was Typhoid Fever. John O’Donnell made the long journey home to Clifton, Carbon County, Pennsylvania, only to die there on 26th August. (1)

After John’s death, his mother Elizabeth applied for a pension, stating that her son had been her main financial support. Our first affidavit dates to December 1862, some three months after John’s death. It carries the statements of three men from Luzerne County, Condy O’Donnell, Patrick Gallagher and Peter O’Donnell, all of whom attested to John’s illness on his return for the army. The purpose of this evidence was to prove that John had contracted his illness in the line of service (as opposed to afterwards).

DECEMBER 1862

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

LUZERNE COUNTY

Personally appeared before me Condy O’Donnell who being duly sworn according to law deposeth and saith that he was acquainted with John O’Donnell the son of Elizabeth O’Donnell the applicant in the above case. That he saw the said John about the last of June 1862 immediately after his return from the army. He appeared to be very sick and miserable. He had a large swelling under his ear and complained of pain in his breast. From his appearance I thought that he would not live long. He last saw said John on the 4th day of July. That at said time he looked no stronger or more healthy than when he first saw him. Sworn & subscribed before me this 27 day of December 1862.

Condy O’Donnell HIS MARK

Patrick Gallagher being duly sworn saith- I was acquainted with John O’Donnell. I saw him the night he came back from the army. He was very weak and sick, so weak that he could scarcely walk. He said he had lost his health in the army had been discharged and thought he would not live long. He stayed at my a part of the time until he left WIlkes Barre for Clifton. He left for Clifton about the 16 of July. He was no stronger when he left than when he first came. I did not think he could live long. he was entirely temperate and of good habits in every respect. Sworn & subscribed before me this 27 day of December 1862.

Patrick Gallagher

Peter O’Donnell being duly sworn saith, I was acquainted with John O’Donnell. I saw him in the month of August a few days before he died. He was in bed and so weak he could hardly talk. I asked him what ailed him. He said “the lump on his neck had fell down in his throat” and he had a very bad pain in his breast and breathed with great difficulty. He had no lump on his neck before he went to the army but was strong and active. His habits were very temperate and good in every respect. I think he died of the disease contracted while in the service. He had the attention of a Physician but could get no relief. I have no interest direct or indirect in the prosecution of this claim. Sworn & subscribed before me this 27 day of December 1862.

Peter O’Donnell (2)

John O’Donnell’s discharge from the army (NARA/Fold3)

Although Condy O’Donnell couldn’t sign his name, both Patrick Gallagher and Peter O’Donnell were able to do so. All three bore surnames that strongly suggest they were Donegal natives. We find Condy O’Donnell on the 1860 Census living in Hazle Township, Luzerne County. He was enumerated as a 31-year-old miner born in Ireland. With him in the house were his brother Manus, Patrick and Margaret Ward and their family, Bridget Melly, Lawrence Herren, Edward McLinn, John Gallagher and Hugh Boyle. All had been born in Ireland, and all the men were either miners or laborers. Again, the surnames strongly suggest that the majority of these emigrants were from Co. Donegal, or at least North-West Ireland. The deponent Patrick Gallagher may be the Irish-born laborer also recorded in Hazle Township on the 1860 Census, living with miner Charles Gallagher and his family, and laborer Dominick McLin. This first affidavit provides us with specific detail about John O’Donnell’s final days, but also opens a window into how close-knit the Donegal Irish community was in this part of Pennsylvania. As we will discover later, we know that Elizabeth and John O’Donnell left Ireland around the late 1840s, during the Famine. Here we have evidence from more than a decade later to suggest they were firmly a part of not only an Irish immigrant community, but specifically of a Donegal one. (3)

The next affidavit on the file was deposed the following August, when Peter O’Donnell and Patrick Gallagher again gave evidence. As well as showing that John O’Donnell had supported his mother and had no other dependents, it sought to assist Elizabeth with a major stumbling block she had encountered with her application. It had become apparent that Elizabeth was not a widow, but was in fact married to a man named James McGarvey. The existence of a husband meant that in order to keep her pension claim alive she had to demonstrate that her spouse was either unable or unwilling to support her. The two men sought to do this by recounting the fact that James McGarvey had abandoned Elizabeth, and that they in fact had never met him.

AUGUST 1863

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

LUZERNE COUNTY

Before me…Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County personally appeared Patrick Gallagher and Peter O’Donnell residents of Wilkes Barre Township, in said County and State, persons whom I certify to be respectable and worthy of credit, who being duly sworn say that they are acquainted [with] Elizabeth O’Donnell, the present claimant, and that they were acquainted with John O’Donnell, late a private in Company “A”, 18th Regt U.S. Infantry, who was her son. He died on the 26th day of August AD 1862, which was about a month after he came home discharged. His mother, the present claimant depended on him entirely for support. Before he enlisted in the army he lived with her, and while he was there he sent her a part of his wages, which we know. He had supported her by his work for about six years before he enlisted. Elizabeth O’Donnell has a husband now living. His name is James McGarvey. He married her about eleven years ago and after living with her about a year he left her and she has never seen him since. We have never seen him. He has not lived with her for the past nine years, during which time we have known her. He has not contributed at all to her support during that time. We do not know whether he is living now, or not. They have no interest in the prosecution of this claim. They also state that John O’Donnell left neither widow nor children. He was not married.

Peter O’Donnell

Patrick Gallagher

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

COUNTY OF LUZERNE

Before me Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County personally appeared Paul Dunn, whom I certify to be a person of respectability and worthy of credit, residing in Wilkes Barre, Luzerne County, Penna, who being duly sworn says that he knew John O’Donnell, who was a private in Company “A”, 18th Regt U.S. Infantry. That before he enlisted and at the time he was apparently sturdy and well. That he saw him about the 25th day of August AD 1862, when he first came back from the army, discharged. He was then very sick, and of that sickness he died in about a month. He also states that he has no interest in the claim.

Paul Dunn (4)

An example of one of the affidavits. On this page Condy O’Donnell has made his mark, and Patrick Gallagher has signed his name (NARA/Fold3)

This affidavit adds a further layer of information. Peter O’Donnell and Patrick Gallagher reveal details about John’s support and James McGarveys abandonment, but also indicate that they did not know Elizabeth prior to her emigration to the United States. This is interesting given their likely shared Donegal origins and is further evidence for the existence of a distinct network of Donegal natives who aided each other in the Coal Region. Elizabeth had become a part of that community in America, which was wider than just those that had known each other personally in the Old Country. Of course, Irish immigrants were members of many social networks concurrently, and Elizabeth O’Donnell was no exception. We can see this through the affidvavit of Paul Dunn, who gave his statement to prove that John O’Donnell had not been ill prior to his enlistment. Dunn was not from Donegal, nor was he born in Ireland. However, it seems likely he was part of the wider Irish-American community around Luzerne and Carbon Counties. The 1860 Census reveals the Pennsylvanian was a coal miner in Wilkes-Barre, living at home with his widowed, and Irish-born, mother. (5)

A month later Peter O’Donnell and Patrick Gallagher were back to give a third affidavit. They reiterated their previous statements, as well as providing details of Elizabeth’s first husband, John’s father. Another man, Darby Farry, also added his mark to the statement. Although we have no details on Darby’s origins, the Ferry/Ó Fearadhaigh is another surname directly associated with Co. Donegal.

SEPTEMBER 1863

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

COUNTY OF LUZERNE

We Peter O’Donnell and Patrick Gallagher of Wilkes Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania being duly sworn, on our oaths say that we know Elizabeth O’Donnell, that she was married to Patrick O’Donnell in Ireland as we believe. That about eighteen years ago she came to this Country with her son John O’Donnell, the dec’d. That they lived together up to the time of his enlistment in the army. That for the past five years he has supported her by his work. That after he enlisted he sent her five dollars per month, and at one time he send her fifteen dollars in March 1862. That what he sent her was absolutely necessary for her support, to pay her board. That she has no property whatever, and is now supported by her friends, not being able to work. That James McGarvey who married her about eight or ten years ago, left her after he had lived with her a year, and we have never seen him since, nor has he been back, and no one here knows where he is. Also, I Darby Fary of Wilkes Barre, Luzerne County, Penna on my oath say that I know the facts set forth above to be true, being myself personally acquainted with Elizabeth O’Donnell and having been acquainted with her son John O’Donnell and knowing all the facts set forth and we have no interest in the claim.

Peter O’Donnell

Patrick Gallagher

Darby Farry HIS MARK (5)

Elizabeth had to do more to prove that she had been married to John O’Donnell’s father. In order to achieve this she had to send back to Ireland for proof of their union. In doing so she revealed for us her precise place of origin in Co. Donegal- Cruit Island. The document also indicates how communications were maintained across the Atlantic, often over decades. Owen Sharkey, a resident of Cruit who had been at Elizabeth’s wedding, gave a statement attesting to that fact which was forwarded to America through the U.S. Consul for Londonderry. Additionally the local parish priest added an annotation to confirm that the marriage was duly recorded in the parish registers.

JUNE 1865

Forwarded by Alexander Henderson, Consul of the United States for the Port of Londonderry, 29 June 1865

SOLEMN DECLARATION

PETTY SESSIONS DISTRICT OF DUNGLOE

COUNTY OF DONEGAL

I Owen Sharkey of Cruit do solemnly and sincerely declare, that Elizabeth O’Donnell formerly of Cruit Island, Co. Donegal, Ireland, but now a resident of Eckley, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, America, was in my presence married to the late Patrick O’Donnell of the aforesaid Island of Cruit, by the late Revd. Bernard O’Donnell, then Parish Priest, of the Parish of Templecrone in the County Donegal.

And I further declare, that John O’Donnell, whom I knew and who, I am led to believe, died while in the service of the United States Government during the late war, was an issue of the said marriage.

Owen Sharkey HIS MARK

Subscibed this 6th day of June 1865

The register of this parish agrees with what is written & testified by the magistrates on the other side

Donl O’Donnell PP

Templecrone

Kinkaslough [Kincaslough]

Co. Donegal

26 June ’65 (6)

Correspondence from the Londonderry Consulate appended to the details of Elizabeth’s marriage (NARA/Fold3)

The ever reliable Peter O’Donnell was back to give his fourth affidavit the following month, to again reiterate that John’s health had failed while in the army, and not before. This statement was strengthened by the addition of Francis Coll’s testimony. Francis was the same age as John O’Donnell and had enlisted on the same day with him into the same regiment. Five feet 9 inches in height, Francis was a miner by trade, with hazel eyes, dark brown hair and a sandy complexion. Born in Ireland, Francis’s surname strongly suggests he was from Co. Donegal, indeed he may also have been from The Rosses, where the surname is among its most plentiful. He had not been in a position to provide an affidavit in 1863 as he was still in service, having served out his three years with the regiment, along the way fighting in some of the major battles of the Western Theater. (7)

AUGUST 1865

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

COUNTY OF LUZERNE

Personally appeared before me Prothonotary of Court of Common Pleas for said County Peter O’Donnell and Francis Coll citizens entitled to credit and on oath said they were personally acquainted with John O’Donnell private in Co A 3d Bat, 18th Reg U.S. Reg Inf. That at time of enlisting the said John O’Donnell was a healthy man and had been so as long as they had known him. That said John O’Donnell was honorably discharged from military service by reason of Surgeons Certificate of Disability about the 1st of July 1863. That the said John O’Donnell was very sick when discharged. That he died on the 26 of July 1863 of disease of which he was sick when he came home and which he contracted in service and that they have no interest in the claim.

Francis Coll: HIS MARK

Peter O’Donnell

Contents made known, marked, signed and sworn to before me this 8 day of August 1865 and I certify I have no interest in this claim.

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

COUNTY OF LUZERNE

Personally appeared before me Prothonotary of Court of Common Please in said County Peter O’Donnell and Francis Coll, citizens to me well known and entitled to credit and on oath declared that they have been for eleven years acquainted with Elizabeth McGarvey. That she is the mother of John O’Donnell late a private in Co A, 3 Bat 18 Reg U.S. Reg Inf Vol. That Elizabeth McGarvey was formerly the wife of Patrick O’Donnell. That she had by said Patrick O’Donnell six children, Hugh, Patrick and John O’Donnell being three boys and Mary, Bridget and Ann O’Donnell being three daughters. That the father Patrick O’Donnell and Hugh and Patrick O’Donnell two sons died in Ireland. That the mother came to America with John O’Donnell her son and her three daughters aforesaid. That sometime after coming to America Elizabeth O’Donnell widow of Patrick O’Donnell married James McGarvey. That the said Elizabeth lived with the said James McGarvey as his wife for about two years, when owing to James McGarvey’s drinking so much liquor and not working she was compelled to leave him. That she the said Elizabeth McGarvey has not lived with James McGarvey for eight years or more. That the said James McGarvey continued drinking until he finally got deranged and for some three years has been wandering about from place to place, and when last heard from was in Brooklyn N.Y. That he has never contributed to the support of his wife the said Elizabeth McGarvey. That he is worth no property, is not able to, and cannot be made to by law. That the three daughters the said Elizabeth had by her first husband are now married and are unable to furnish anything for the support of their mother. That the said Elizabeth McGarvey is now old and very infirm in health and unable to support herself. That for the last six years she the said Elizabeth McGarvey has been wholly dependent upon John O’Donnell her son late a private in Co A the aforesaid for support. Their knowledge of this arose from the following sources: Peter O’Donnell was working in the mines with said John O’Donnell at Buck Mountain and knew that the said John O’Donnell up to the time of going to war used his wages to support his mother, paid the rent of her house, paid her store bill & c. Francis Coll was with the said John O’Donnell in the same Company and Regiment, and knew the said John O’Donnell sent his money home when he received his pay from the Government to his mother for her to use. That they have no interest whatever in this claim.

Francis Coll: HIS MARK

Peter O’Donnell (8)

Elizabeth lived in Eckley at the time she sent to Ireland for proof of her marriage. Elements of the mining village that existed there survive to this day (Image: Jerrye & Roy Klotz MD)

The probability that Francis Coll’s family had known the O’Donnells in Ireland is further strengthened by his knowledge of their lives in the Old Country. The affidavit reveals that aside from her husband Patrick (who died around 1840), Elizabeth had lost two sons on Cruit, Hugh and Patrick Junior. It may have been these latter deaths that prompted the widow’s emigration, almost certainly travelling to the Coal Region in Pennsylvania to join other members of the Cruit emigrant community. This affidavit provides us with perhaps the greatest detail on Elizabeth’s “back story”, including the fact that her second husband James McGarvey had an alcohol problem. The next document, dated to September 1867, is the first time that we hear from Elizabeth herself. (9)

SEPTEMBER 1867

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

COUNTY OF CARBON

On this day of September A.D. 1867 before me the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas in and for said County personally appeared Elizabeth McGarvey who being my me duly sworn according to law makes the following statement in support of her claim 9,413 for pension:

That her age is about 61 years and that she was born in County Donegal Ireland where she was married to Patrick O’Donnell the father of her son John O’Donnell deceased and where the said Patrick died about 27 years ago. That some time after his death she emigrated to this Country where she again married James Garvey who lived with her for a period of nearly three years at the expiration of which time he abandoned and deserted the deponent and is now supposed to be dead although nothing definite concerning his fate is known. That Garvey has never from the date of their marriage contributed one penny toward the support of this deponent but that she has been entirely dependent upon her said son John O’Donnell for support who contributed all his earnings from his childhood toward her maintenance.

That the said John enlisted in the service of the United States on or about the 30th day of October 1861 and while in said service contracted the disease of which he died at Buck Mountain Carbon County Pennsylvania.

She hereby constitutes and appoints Ed C. Dominick of Mauch Chunk, Carbon County, Pennsylvania her true and lawful attorney for her and in her name to prosecute this claim and hereby revokes all powers of attorney by her at anytime heretofore made.

Elizabeth Garvey HER MARK

Also personally appeared Isabella Kennedy and James Gallagher residents of Mauch Chunk in the County and State aforesaid to me well known and whom I certify to be respectable and entitled to credit and who being by me duly sworn according to law declare that their ages are respectively forty seven and sixty five years and they have been for thirty years and more well acquainted with Elizabeth McGarvey above named that they knew her in Ireland as the wife of Patrick O’Donnell and know the fact that said Patrick died in Ireland. That they have known ever since her residence in the United States and know the fact that she married James Garvey who deserted her about three years after their marriage since which time they have hard nor seen nothing of them. They further swear from personal knowledge that since her marriage and up to the time of his death the said John her only surviving son kept the house & supported her, contributing the rent, food and clothing and all things necessary to her support and this he has done for a period of more than ten years.

They further swear that the said Elizabeth McGarvey has no property whatever wither real or personal but is in destitute circumstances and further that they have no interest in this claim.

Isabella Kennedy HER MARK

James Gallagher HIS MARK (10)

The interchangeability of surnames and surname spellings is notable in Elizabeth’s file, in which she is variously referred to as O’Donnell, McGarvey and Garvey. Her statement confirmed the facts provided by others, and the affidavit provides us detail on two more Donegal emigrants from The Rosses. Isabella Kennedy and James Gallagher made their homes in Mauch Chunk (Jim Thorpe) and had known Elizabeth in Ireland. Isabella appears in the town in the 1860 Census, when she was enumerated as 35-years-old and living with her husband Patrick, a laborer, and their four children. (11)

Buck Mountain, where John O’Donnell spent time working as a coal miner (Image: Jakec)

That November Elizabeth got two more Irish-Americans to attest to her son’s health prior to his enlistment, and also procured a statement from the physician, A.A. Ziegenfus, who had cared for her son during his last days.

NOVEMBER 1867

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

COUNTY OF CARBON

On this 21st day of November A.D. 1867 before me a Justice of the Peace in and for said County personally appeared A A Ziegenfus MD a resident practising physician of Buck Mountain to me well known and whom I certify to be respectable and entitled to credit and reputable and skilful in his profession and who being by me duly sworn according to law declares that he was the attending physician in the last illness of John O’Donnell who died on the 26th day of August A.D. 1862 of Phthisis Pulmonalis (Consumption of the Lungs) and that he has no interest in this claim.

A.A. Ziegenfus M.D.

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

COUNTY OF CARBON

On this 21st day of November AD 1867 before me a Justice of the Peace in and for said County personally appeared Patrick Brannan and James Brannan residents of Buckmountain Carbon Co to me well known and whom I certify to be respectable and entitled to credit and who being by me duly sworn according to law declare that they have been for 16 years well acquainted with John O’Donnell deceased and know the fact that previous to and immediately after his enlistment in the service of the United States he was a strong healthy and robust man, a laborer by occupation and without any indication of disease and that he returned home after his discharge from said service in a dying condition, and further that they have no interest in this claim.

Patrick Brannan HIS MARK

James Brannan HIS MARK (12)

The final affidavit on file dates to July 1869. Again the first deponent was Elizabeth, supported again by James Gallagher of Mauch Chunk and this time by another new deponent, John Gallagher, presumably another Donegal emigrant.

JULY 1869

STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA

COUNTY OF CARBON

On this Seventh day of July AD1869 before me the Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas in and for said County. Personally appeared Elizabeth Garvey a resident of Buck Mountain in the County of Carbon and State of Pennsylvania aged about sixty six years who being first duly sworn according to law doth on her oath make the following declaration in order to obtain the benefits of the provisions made by the Act of Congress approved July 14th 1862: That she is the widow of Patrick O’Donnell and mother of John O’Donnell who was a private in Company “A” of the Eighteenth (18th) Regiment of United States Infantry in the war of 1861 who died at Buck Mountain aforesaid on the 26th day of August AD1862 by reason of disease contracted in the service of the United States and line of his duty. She further swears that her husband the said Patrick O’Donnell to whom she was married in the year 1826 died in Ireland about the year 1840 and that she was again married to James Garvey in June AD1852. That the said James Garvey lived with her for the period of two years and ten months at the expiration of which time he deserted her and she has neither seen nor heard of him since and verily believes that he is dead. That she said since his desertion of her [he] has never contributed anything toward her support and since that time she has been dependent upon her said son John.

She further declares that her said son upon whom she was wholly or in part dependent for support having left no widow or minor child under sixteen years of age surviving but having died unmarried and leaving no child declarant makes this application for a pension under the above mentioned Act and refers to the evidence filed herewith and that in the proper department to establish her claim.

She also declares that she has not in any way been engaged in or aided or abetted the Rebellion in the United States. That she is not in the receipt of a pension under the 2d section of the Act above mentioned or under any other Act nor has she again married since the death of her son the said John O’Donnell. That her post office address is Buck Mountain, Carbon County, Pennsylvania and she hereby constitutes and appoints Ed C Dominick of Mauch Chunk, Carbon County, Pennsylvania her true and lawful attorney for her and in her name to prosecute this claim and further that her maiden name was Elizabeth Campbell.

Elizabeth Garvey HER MARK

Also personally appeared John Gallagher and James Gallagher persons to me well known and whom I certify to be respectable and entitled to credit and who being by me duly sworn according to law say that they were present and saw Elizabeth Garvey make her mark to the foregoing declaration and they further swear that they have every reason to believe both from the appearance of the applicant and their acquaintance with her that she is the identical person she represents herself to be and further that they have no interest in the prosecution of this claim. And the said James Gallagher further swears that he and the said Patrick O’Donnell were born and brought up within three miles of each other in Ireland, that they were close friends while in the Old Country and he distinctly remembers the fact of the marriage of Patrick O’Donnell and Elizabeth Campbell though he was not present at the ceremony. The said Patrick died as this deponent is informed in the Old Country in the year 1840- his widow the said Elizabeth came to this country about twenty years ago and married James Garvey who deserted her a short time after their marriage.

They further swear that the said Elizabeth was dependent upon her son the said John to support for at least the period of two years previous to his death contributing regularly to her support a large proportion of his wages. That she is not now nor has she been since deserted by the said Garvey possessed of any property but since that time has been dependent and supported by her son. And the said John Gallagher further swears that he saw the said John O’Donnell the day he returned from the army he was then sick and obliged to go immediately to bed at the house adjoining this affidavit’s in the Borough of Mauch Chunk aforesaid. That the appearance of the said O’Donnell was then so altered by illness that this deponent with difficulty recognised him. That he remained at this house for a period of about ten days when he recovered sufficiently to be removed to his home at Buck Mountain where he shortly afterward died, this deponent attending the funeral.

John Gallagher HIS MARK

James Gallagher HIS MARK (13)

The July 1869 affidavits were finally enough to get Elizabeth’s application approved, some seven years after the death of her son. A total of 14 individuals gave statements in support of Elizabeth’s pension application. Of them it would seem that 13 were Irish-American, and as many as 12 were Irish-born. The bulk were also almost certainly Donegal emigrants. Given the origins of at least some of them in The Rosses, it is also likely that they grew up as native gaelic speakers. Although the affidavits themselves contain much of the same information, readers will have noted how each one often adds a subtly different piece of the puzzle, which when taken together offer us a glimpse of Elizabeth and her family’s experience. The range and backgrounds of those who assisted her also tell us much about maintained trans-Atlantic connections, and perhaps most strikingly, about the ties among a specific community of Donegal immigrants working the anthracite fields of North-East Pennsylvania. (14)

The prison in Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe). Large numbers of Irish miners lived in this area, and in 1877 a number of them, accused of membership of the Molly Maguires, were executed here (Damian Shiels)

* None of my work on pensions would be possible without the exceptional effort currently taking place in the National Archives to digitize this material and make it available online via Fold3. A team from NARA supported by volunteers are consistently adding to this treasure trove of historical information. To learn more about their work you can watch a video by clicking here.

]]>http://irishamericancivilwar.com/2017/08/14/hearing-voices-19th-century-emigrants-case-study-pension-file-affidavits/feed/213092Document Focus: Life & Death at Antietam in Telegraphshttp://irishamericancivilwar.com/2017/06/25/document-focus-life-death-at-antietam-in-telegraphs/
Sun, 25 Jun 2017 18:03:13 +0000http://irishamericancivilwar.com/?p=12305Cornelius Callahan was an early enlistee in the Union cause. He was barely 18-years-old when he volunteered in Philadelphia. A founder by trade, he was described as having a light complexion, blue eyes and light hair. Knowing that Cornelius’s parents Timothy and Johanna (née Nagle) were married in Ireland during the late 1830s allows us...

]]>Cornelius Callahan was an early enlistee in the Union cause. He was barely 18-years-old when he volunteered in Philadelphia. A founder by trade, he was described as having a light complexion, blue eyes and light hair. Knowing that Cornelius’s parents Timothy and Johanna (née Nagle) were married in Ireland during the late 1830s allows us the rare opportunity to precisely identify where Cornelius hailed from. Recourse to the Irish Catholic Parish Registers, recently made available online, reveal the young man’s baptism on 6th August 1843 in the village of Grenagh, Co. Cork (the site recently explored another family from Grenagh– see here). Cornelius marched off to the Civil War as a private in Company G of the 2nd Delaware Infantry.

The village of Grenagh, Co. Cork, where Cornelius Callahan of the 2nd Delaware Infantry was born.

The baptism of Cornelius recorded in Grenagh, Co. Cork (Click to enlarge– his is the final name in the section) (National Library of Ireland)

At Antietam, on 17th September 1862, the 2nd Delaware were part of Brooke’s 3rd Brigade of Richardson’s Division, Second Corps. The 2nd Brigade of that division was Thomas Francis Meagher’s Irish Brigade. Cornelius and his comrades had been in reserve while the Irishmen launched their assault towards the Bloody Lane, and afterwards crossed much of the same ground as part of their brigade’s initial drive towards the Piper Farm. Cornelius may well have seen some of his wounded and maimed countrymen as he and the Delawareans advanced towards the foe. At some point during that advance, Cornelius was struck by a shell, and himself severely wounded.

The site of General Hospital No. 3 in Frederick, Maryland, where Cornelius Callahan was treated for his Antietam injuries.

We know little of what happened to Cornelius following his injury, but ultimately he ended up in General Hospital No. 3 in Frederick, Maryland, located in that town’s Presbyterian Church. At the time his parents were living at 1318 Carlton Street in Philadelphia. They appear to have heard about the wounding of their son relatively quickly, but did not know of his whereabouts, or if he was alive or dead. Then, on 1st October 1862, they received a telegraph from Frederick sent by “Jerry” who was clearly a family friend. It was brief in its message, but the few short words must have filled the Irish emigrant family with hope:

Corneal is alive. I am with him. Jerry.

The modern day Carlton Street in Philadelphia, much changed from when the Callahans of Grenagh made it their home.

It is impossible to imagine what was going through the minds of Johanna and Timothy Callahan at the time, but they must have been comforted that Jerry stayed with their son through the following days. But the bombshell telegraph followed from him three days later, on 4th October:

Cornel[ius] is dead. I am taking him on. Jerry.

The 19-year-old Grenagh man was buried in St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Frederick; his burial in a Catholic cemetery may have been the result of Jerry’s intercession. The two telegraphs from The American Telegraph Company did not spend long in the Callahan’s possession. Joanna submitted them both as part of her pension application to prove the fate of her son, in the process preserving them for us to see. The Callahan story is a yet another example of the double-trauma this site often revisits– a family who left Ireland in hope of a better life, only to suffer catastrophic loss during the American Civil War.

the first telegraph sent to the Callahan family in Philadelphia, after “Jerry” had located their wounded son (NARA/Fold3)

The second telegraph sent to the Callahans. Three days after the first, it informs them that Cornelius is dead (NARA/Fold3)

The headstone of Cornelius Callahan from Grenagh in Frederick (Jen Snoots/Find A Grave)

* None of my work on pensions would be possible without the exceptional effort currently taking place in the National Archives to digitize this material and make it available online via Fold3. A team from NARA supported by volunteers are consistently adding to this treasure trove of historical information. To learn more about their work you can watch a video by clicking here.

]]>12305"Rather Than Hear My Father's Tongue": The Sad Story of Why William Flaherty Foughthttp://irishamericancivilwar.com/2017/05/27/rather-than-hear-my-fathers-tongue-the-sad-story-of-why-william-flaherty-fought/
http://irishamericancivilwar.com/2017/05/27/rather-than-hear-my-fathers-tongue-the-sad-story-of-why-william-flaherty-fought/#commentsSat, 27 May 2017 11:20:12 +0000http://irishamericancivilwar.com/?p=12160In late 1863 the town of Plymouth, New Hampshire needed men. One way or another they had a quota of enlistments to fill, and in anticipation of the draft they determined to add financial incentives in order to meet it. In August Plymouth voted to pay every drafted man– or his substitute– a $300 bounty. These...

]]>In late 1863 the town of Plymouth, New Hampshire needed men. One way or another they had a quota of enlistments to fill, and in anticipation of the draft they determined to add financial incentives in order to meet it. In August Plymouth voted to pay every drafted man– or his substitute– a $300 bounty. These type of financial incentives were commonplace in the latter part of the war, and were intended in part to attract men from out of town, and often from out of State, to enlist as part of their quota. It is apparent that large numbers of Irishmen took advantage of these financial incentives between 1863-65. Indeed, there is evidence to suggest that some even travelled directly from Ireland with the specific intent of availing of these bounties (e.g. see here). Ultimately 22 of the men mustered into service and credited to Plymouth’s late 1863 quota were non-residents. One of them was “William Slate”, who along with three others was assigned to the 6th New Hampshire Infantry. William was an Irishman who lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Clearly he chose to enlist in Plymouth because of the financial reward on offer, but was his decision purely based on money? The survival of some of William’s letter’s home reveal the complexities behind his choice. The material in the widow’s pension files is frequently tinged with sorrow, but the story left to us in William’s words– dwelling as they do on why joined up and what he wanted for the future– are almost overwhelming in their poignancy. (1)

Unidentified New Hampshire Soldier in the Civil War (Library of Congress)

“William Slate” was a young man of 22 when he decided to help Plymouth fill its quota. His real name was William Flaherty, and prior to the war affidavits confirm he worked as a hatter. It is clear from his 1863-4 letters that when he joined the army he had just been discharged from a ship. A review of Naval Enlistment Rendezvous records reveals that on 30th December 1862, a 22-year-old hatter named William Flaherty enlisted in Philadelphia as a Landsman for a term of one year. Born in Co. Galway, he was described as 5 feet 6 3/4 inches tall, with gray eyes, black hair and a fair complexion. (2)

William’s family had left Galway sometime around the early/mid 1850s. He had been forced to go to work from a young age, first selling newspapers on the Philadelphia streets before taking on his trade. By his own admission, he had somewhat of a wild reputation. However, given his family’s home life, this is hardly a surprise. William’s father Timothy was an alcoholic, who repeatedly spent his money on drink rather than his family. In the words of one family friend, Timothy “did literally nothing” for their support, and according to another he was a man “of grossly intemperate habits.” So bad was the situation that twice William’s mother Mary went to the Guardians of Poor and sought to institute proceedings against her husband because of his “continual drunkenness and neglect.” Although Timothy did spend a few days in prison he could not be forced to pay alimony. In order to keep their heads above water, the rest of the family had to take up the slack; in addition to William’s efforts, Mary also sought to supplement their income by selling apples. With the coming of war, William had decided in late 1862 to try his hand in U.S. Navy, no doubt keen to take the opportunity to escape for a time the issues which surrounded the family back in Philadelphia. (3)

Unidentified Civil War Sailor (Library of Congress)

William was discharged from the Navy in late 1863, and initially he intended to re-enlist as a Jack Tar in early 1864. All that changed when he had a ferocious argument with his father– who was presumably drunk– causing him to storm out of the family home. In a fit of rage he went into the army, choosing the name Slate, his mother’s maiden name, “because he was ashamed to be known as related to his father.” He was apparently “ashamed of thename…[as] his father had brought discredit upon it.” The next his mother Mary heard from William was a letter written in Concord, New Hampshire, dated 31st December 1863, the day after he was mustered. In the letter William’s anger towards his father is palpable, as is his regret at having taken such a drastic step in the heat of the moment. Over the course of the next few weeks, he would make sure to send his mother what money he could.

Concord December the 31

Dear mother i no you will be supprised to hear that i have enlisted i asure you i did not want to do it but you are well aware that every time i went in to your house that i was insulted by him i call father [.] i had no place to go or if i had i would stay untill new years day but rather than hear my fathers tongue again i would go anywheres [.] i also asure you that no one is as sorry as myself and if if was free again i would beg for my liveing rahter than do what i have done but what is done cannt be undone [.] when i was discharged from the ship i only had thirty dollars comeing to me out of that i had to get some clothes all i had left was twelve dollars and that i was ashamed to give you i intended to ship on the day after new years and give you my advance but now i am in the army God noes if i will ever get out of it [.] … i have felt verey sick ever since i left philadelphia i cannot eate nothin dont be alarmed [.] i will write to you always when i can you cannot say i am ungratefull i always remember you in my hour of sorrow [.] tell no bodey at Mr Sulivan where i am you need not write untill you receive the money i am going to send you… (4)

At the end of the letter, William wrote that in the army “my name is William State.” His next correspondence came almost a month later, from Camp Nelson, Kentucky. His father was apparently filled with regret in the aftermath of his son’s decision to enlist, and this was communicated to William by his mother. Although William claimed he forgave him, it is apparent he was still bitter about the events which he felt had driven him into soldiering and away from his home. Despite this, it appears military discipline was having a positive impact on him, though he was clearly finding the going tough. William refers to his own wild past, which appears to have included rumours that he had married a woman during his last time at home. He concluded his letter by hoping that he would get an opportunity to prove all his doubters in Philadelphia wrong:

Camp Nelson January the 28 1864

Dear Mother i no you will excuse me for not writeing to you sooner when i tell you that i have been sick and to tell you the truth i am verey weak today [.] i am commencing to think that soldiering wont agree with me but i will try to stick it out i am in hopes this war will be over before next winter [.] …i am verey sorry that my father is so low but i must say that it is his fault that i am here but i forgive him for all he done to me [.] …i shall do all i can for you dont be alarmed i will always write to you when i can i am not ungratefull though people may say i am [.] my nature is to noble to forget you although i acted a little wild sometimes i never forget those that are kind to me no dear mother if i was wild and rough in my young days i am commencing to find out that it will not do to be wild always and if God should spare me to return i will try and lead a different life [.] i am learning a new lesson every day oh mother every night i dream of home it almost drives me mad to think i was drove from the only place on earth i love [.] often do i think of philadelphia i have seen a good maney Citys but there is noun like philadelphia but i must try and forget it now i am banished from there for a long while and if i ever return again all the money in the world cant drive me from it [.] i hope you have not heard no foolish reports about me beeing married this last time it is a wonder that they have let my name rest for once perhaps i may fool them all yet at least i hope so… (5)

The site of Camp Nelson in Kentucky, where William Flaherty wrote two of his letters (C. Bedford Crenshaw via Wikipedia)

The final letter in the file from William Flaherty was written from Camp Nelson in March 1864. Still to the fore is the condition of his father, his apparent efforts to reform, and the anticipation of the heavy fighting to come:

Camp Nelson March the 8

Dear Mother

i received your kind and ever welcome letter on thursday with four dollars which i return you my most sincere thanks [.]…i am verey glad that my father is geting better i hope he has now learnt a lesson that he will never forget [.] i dont no what to make of him for not writeing to [me] i am sure he has as much time as i have camp life is verey dull [.]…i expect we will have some heavey fighting to do this spring and summer if we dont end the war this year i think it will last for four years more… (6)

Shortly after writing this letter, William and his new comrades linked up with the Army of the Potomac in Virginia to prepare for the heavy campaign that the Galwegian had anticipated. The opening clash came at the Battle of the Wilderness. In this, his first taste of action, William fell dangerously wounded in the fighting of 6th May. Another Irish-American, Peter Burns of the 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves, claimed to have seen him on the morning of 7th May. He remembered that William was “wounded in two places, side and chest, the last I heard of him he was on his way to the Hospital at Fredericksburg in one of our ambulances.” Burns heard that these ambulances may have been captured by the Rebels, but either way William evidently succumbed to his wounds– his mother Mary never heard from him again. The young man’s efforts to escape “his father’s tongue” had cost the highest of prices. How Timothy Flaherty reacted to the news is unknown, but given his apparent remorse following William’s enlistment it likely impacted him greatly. Around this time he went into the Almshouse, and in August 1864 he left Philadelphia to take on work in Nashville, Tennessee, digging trenches for the Government. He never came back. According to differing sources, after a few months there he died, either as a result of disease or at the hands of Confederate guerrillas. (7)

The file of William Flaherty is of particular interest with respect to gaining an insight into Irish-American communities and how Irish-Americans saw themselves. William clearly identified as an American, as is apparent based on his commentary regarding Philadelphia. The fact that many of these Irishmen viewed themselves first and foremost as Americans is one of the strongest themes I have found in the pension files. But within that national identity, William (and it seems most other Irish) also saw themselves as members of an Irish-American community, although it often remained unsaid. We can see this in William’s writings, particularly a passage where he asks his mother to send him the life and eulogy for Archbishop “Dagger John” Hughes, the famed Irish-American Archbishop of New York who passed away in January 1864. We also see it in the identities of the people who supplied affidavits for Mary’s pension claim (inconsistencies in a number of these statements suggest some were willing to bend the truth to aid the Galway woman). They are overwhelmingly Irish or Irish-American, from Ann Leonard and Mary Sullivan, who were Mary’s neighbours in Galway and Philadelphia, to ex-servicemen Joseph Murphy of the 42nd New York and Peter Burns of the 2nd Pennsylvania Reserves. When in need, it was the Irish-American community of Philadelphia that rallied around Mary Flaherty. (8)

William Flaherty’s letters are extremely tough to read given what we know about his fate. Men served in the Civil War for many reasons; some did it for patriotism, some did it for money, others for adventure. At a superficial level, the basic facts of William’s enlistment would lead us to believe his primary reason for joining the Union Army was financial. However, the survival of his letters reveal the sometimes complex factors that were at play in the minds of these men. Finances were clearly a secondary factor for William Flaherty. His primary motivation was one of escape– specifically escape from the sphere of a drunken father. The dysfunctional home from where he came directly led him to make the decision that led to his death just a few months later, at the age of only 23. He would never have an opportunity to return to Philadelphia and set his life straight. It is to be hoped that his sacrifice did redeem him in the eyes of some of his Philadelphia community, partially fulfilling the wish he expressed in his letter of 28th January 1864: “perhaps i may fool them all yet at least i hope so.” (9)

Fredericksburg National Cemetery, where many of those who fell at the Battle of The Wilderness were laid to rest (Damian Shiels)

* None of my work on pensions would be possible without the exceptional effort currently taking place in the National Archives to digitize this material and make it available online via Fold3. A team from NARA supported by volunteers are consistently adding to this treasure trove of historical information. To learn more about their work you can watch a video by clicking here.

]]>http://irishamericancivilwar.com/2017/05/27/rather-than-hear-my-fathers-tongue-the-sad-story-of-why-william-flaherty-fought/feed/112160Mud Marches, Radical Abolitionists & River Assaults: Letters from the Last Campaign of An Irish-American Soldierhttp://irishamericancivilwar.com/2015/10/25/mud-marches-radical-abolitionists-river-assaults-letters-from-the-last-campaign-of-an-irish-american-soldier-2/
Sun, 25 Oct 2015 18:29:44 +0000http://irishamericancivilwar.com/?p=8838The widows and dependent pension files occasionally include groups of letters written by individual soldiers over a period of months or years. These can sometimes provide significant insight into the motivations, fluctuating morale and political allegiances of these Irish-American men. One such example are the writings of William McIntyre, a young Irish-American from Philadelphia. Through...

]]>The widows and dependent pension files occasionally include groups of letters written by individual soldiers over a period of months or years. These can sometimes provide significant insight into the motivations, fluctuating morale and political allegiances of these Irish-American men. One such example are the writings of William McIntyre, a young Irish-American from Philadelphia. Through 1862 and 1863 he told his parents of his experiences on the march, what he thought of his Generals, and gave his opinions on both the political situation in the North and the question of emancipation. His final letter home related his participation in the opening phases of one of the great campaigns of the war– a campaign that would ultimately cost him his life.(1)

A Zouave of the 95th Pennsylvania Infantry as drawn by Xanthus Smith in 1861 (Xanthus Smith)

Irish emigrants Hugh and Elizabeth McIntyre made their home in Philadelphia, north of Market Street in the city’s 9th Ward. By the 1860s both had been in the United States for many years, and each of their five children had been born in the Keystone State. Hugh worked as a tailor, a job that gave his children opportunities not open to all. Principal among them was a chance to gain a degree of education. The couple’s eldest son William, born around 1841, was sufficiently competent to take a job as a proof-reader at the age of just 13. By the time of his 19th birthday William was earning a decent wage, taking home $14 a week as an apprentice printer. With the coming of war, the young Irish-American enlisted, mustering in as a Corporal in Company H of the 95th Pennsylvania Infantry (Gosline’s Zouaves) on 24th September. (2)

Wiliam’s earliest surviving letters come from the time of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, where his regiment saw it’s first actions. By the start of 1863 the now 21-year-old could count himself a veteran, having witnessed some of the toughest battles of the war. January saw him in low spirits. Defeat at Fredericksburg the previous December had been followed by the debacle known as the ‘Mud March’, a fruitless attempt by Federal commander General Ambrose Burnside to renew the offensive against the Confederates, which came undone amidst horrendous weather conditions. William described his regiment’s part in this memorable episode of the Army of the Potomac’s history:

‘On Tuesday the 20th [January 1863] we started and at night the rain came down in torrents. The next morning we were on the march before daylight and were soaked through to the skin which made us feel anything but in the best of spirits. We marched three miles and as it was impossible to move, the artillery were stuck fast in the mud. We laid for two days in the mud like a parcel of hogs and on the fifth day Burnside made up his mind to turn our Brigade into jack-asses or some other kind of an animal for we were marched two miles stacked arms and started to pull the “Ponto[o]n Boats” out of the mud. It was amusing to hear the boys as they pulled on the ropes for it made us feel like having hold of an engine going to a fire. We had a race with the New York Regts but every one of us pulled and beat them. You ought to have seen us after we were done. We were covered from head to foot with yellow mud and many were the “jokes cracked” with each other about their personal appearance. If any one had told me a man could stand the hardships he has to stand now I would not have believed him. But the old saying is “Live and Learn.” (3)

The Mud March as described by William McIntyre, drawn by Alfred Waud in 1863 (Library of Congress)

Irish and Irish-American letters in the pension files usually make no reference to politics, but where they do a clear preference for the Democratic Party is usually to the fore. There are two particular periods during the war which appear to witness an increase in political references in the letters– the autumn of 1864, where a hope that George McClellan will defeat Abraham Lincoln in the Presidential election is often expressed, and in the first months of 1863, following the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation. On 30th January 1863 William set down his own position on the latter matter to his parents:

‘I see by the papers that there has been an exciting time in the United States Senate. What can be expected of the people when our representatives set such an example. If one is to judge by appearances of the different State Legislatures the present administration sits on a very shaky basis. I think the Radicals of the Northeast want this Gov’t broken up and they think by so doing they will get the Middle States with them, but they are mistaken. Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey will never take up with such a set of hypocrites and defamer’s of a country’s rights as the Abolition [Republican] Party are. I have had time and means to look into the question at issue [slavery and the emancipation proclamation] and in a clear and candid view I have come to the above conclusion. If a State has laws they ought to be respected and there is no Institution in any State that ought to be interfered with unless it is the wish of the majority of the inhabitants of that State but I have let myself too loose now, but if I was home I could tell you better what I think and feel since I came out here.’ (4)

On the face of things, William’s views would not appear out of place had he been serving with the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, but his was a perspective shared by many others in Union blue. Although it may seem he had sympathy for the South, his enlistment was almost certainly at least partly motivated by a strong desire to destroy the rebellion. Like so many other Irish-Americans in Northern service, his primary ideological motivator for service would have been the preservation of the Union– not the emancipation of the slaves. William’s general despondency with the state of affairs in early 1863 was at least tempered by the fact that the Army of the Potomac would not be led by Ambrose Burnside any longer. Following the ‘Mud March’, William wrote: ‘I believe it is the last move he [Burnside] will make of the Army of the Potomac and I am glad of it.’ But he was not happy about the General selected to suceed:

‘I suppose you have heard of Gen. Hooker taking charge of the Army of the Potomac. He is not the “right man.” It ought to be either Gen’s Franklin and Sumner as I think they are better engineers than Hooker. The latter is more like Stonewall Jackson. Lay out the plans for him and he can carry them out if fighting is what is needed. But Franklin and Sumner have been removed and it is left for Gen. Hooker to annihilate the little Army of the Potomac. “So Mote it Be.” [a Freemasonry term] But I think the Almighty will interfere if more importance is not attached to his creatures by our Govt leaders.’

William clearly did not hold out much hope for an upturn in the fortunes of the Union. Unfortunately for him on a personal level, his prediction of annihilation would prove prophetic. (5)

President Lincoln writing the Emancipation Proclamation as imagined by David Gilmour Blythe in 1863 (Library of Congress)

Within a few weeks Joe Hooker commenced what would become known as the Chancellorsville Campaign. William’s 95th Pennsylvania played a key role in one of the opening manouevres, helping to seize a bridgehead over the Rappahannock at Franklin’s Crossing, below Fredericksburg. This was part of a move on the army’s left flank, aimed at threatening the Confederate right. At first light on 29th April assault parties from the 95th and other regiments crossed the river through a thick fog, charging up a steep bluff and dispersing the Rebel defenders with little difficulty. As Joseph Hooker personally led the main strike force across the river into the Wilderness a few miles upstream, William McIntyre took the opportunity to write to his parents on 1st May. His letter is a rare instance of a pension file letter penned by a soldier while in the midst of the campaign that would ultimately cost him his life:

May 1/63

Dear Father & Mother–

I write to inform you that I am safe and sound since I have come across on the Fredericksburg side of the river. We took up the line of march on Tuesday after noon and at 4 o’clock on Wednesday morning our Brigade was put in Pontoon boats and rowed across the river. It was a complete surprise to the “Rebs.” They did not see us until we had got to the shore when they gave us a volley but it did not hurt very many. I did not expect to get across so easy. We soon sent some leaden pills at them that made them “skedaddle”. They keep up a very strong front. We have not had any firing since Wednesday but our boys have had it on the right and left. We had a note read to us that our troops had turned their left flank. I don’t know whether to believe it or not as we have been bamboozled so much by orders from Headquarters that we don’t give them much credit.

Our Division still occupies the front. I don’t know how long we will stay here, but I think we will get relieved by another Division tomorrow. There was nobody hurt in our Company. The weather has been pretty rough since we started out but to day it is warm as any summer day.

Billy Boyds Regt was not engaged so he is all safe. Jack Eberle is well and sends his best respects to you all. Give my love to Kate, Eliza, Nalty and Tommy and all inquiring friends. I sent the Adam’s Express Co’s receipt the day we moved. No more at present. Write soon. I remain,

Your affectionate son,

Wm McIntyre

Enclosed you will find $5 as I have no use for it and if I want any before I get paid again I will send for it.

Your son,

Wm McI. (6)

The following day, on 2nd May, Stonewall Jackson launched his famed flank attack against Hooker’s troops at Chancellorsville. Fighting continued to rage on 3rd May, and William and his comrades were once again called upon. The force of which they formed a part, under General John Sedgwick, was ordered to advance on Chancellorsville to assist Hooker. Moving to the attack, Sedgwick took the famed Marye’s Heights outside Fredericksburg before advancing his men westwards towards his commanding General. That afternoon they encountered significant Confederate resistance, ultimately culminating in a major confrontation on a ridge around Salem Church on the Plank Road. The action becoming general around 5.30 pm as the Yankees advanced on the ememy along both sides of the thoroughfare. William and the 95th Pennsylvania were among those who surged forward on the north (or right) side of the road. William’s divisional commander, Brigadier-General William Brooks, later described the action:

‘Immediately upon entering the dense growth of shrubs and trees which concealed the enemy, our troops were met by a heavy an incessant fire of musketry; yet our lines advanced until they had reached the crest of the hill in the outer skirts of the wood, when, meeting with and being attacked by fresh and superior numbers of the enemy, our forces were finally compelled to withdraw…in this brief but sanguinary conflict this division lost nearly 1,500 officers and men.’ (7)

William McIntyre died during this attack, shot through the head. His father Hugh succumbed to a long battle with heart disease a year later, causing William’s mother Elizabeth to apply for a dependent mother’s pension. In so doing she submitted a number of her son’s letters as evidence of her partial dependence on him, thus preserving them for future generations. (8)

Veterans at Salem Church in 1900 (National Park Service via Wikimedia Commons)

* I have added minor formatting to these letters for the benefit of readers, but none of the content has been altered in any way. None of my work on pensions would be possible without the exceptional effort currently taking place in the National Archives to digitize this material and make it available online via Fold3. A team from NARA supported by volunteers are consistently adding to this treasure trove of historical information. To learn more about their work you can watch a video by clicking here.

]]>8838'I Am Confused': The Emotional Shock of Pickett's Charge as Experienced by a Family & Friendhttp://irishamericancivilwar.com/2015/07/03/i-am-confused-the-emotional-shock-of-picketts-charge-as-experienced-by-a-family-friend/
Fri, 03 Jul 2015 18:19:05 +0000http://irishamericancivilwar.com/?p=8192At 1319 North 16th Street, Philadelphia on the 3rd of July 1863, Irish mother Jane Hand would have been going about her daily routine. Her two daughters were likely proving a handful; with her eldest Lucy Ann just 5 and her youngest Mary Jane 3, they were exactly the right age to get stuck under...

]]>At 1319 North 16th Street, Philadelphia on the 3rd of July 1863, Irish mother Jane Hand would have been going about her daily routine. Her two daughters were likely proving a handful; with her eldest Lucy Ann just 5 and her youngest Mary Jane 3, they were exactly the right age to get stuck under her feet. This wouldn’t have been made easier by the fact that the 27-year-old was heavily pregnant– her third child was expected to arrive in a matter of weeks. Regardless of any tribulations at home, that afternoon Jane’s thoughts were probably on events elsewhere in Pennsylvania. The day before, Philadelphia newspapers had carried scanty details of a major battle off to the west. On the morning of the 3rd, she awoke to headlines telling of ‘A Desperate Battle at Gettysburg’ and ‘Second Day’s Fight! Victory Reported!’ Such accountsmust have made Jane anxious for her husband, James, then a Sergeant in the 69th Pennsylvania Infantry. That very same afternoon, the titanic struggle at Gettysburg was raging on for a third day. At its vortex, 137 miles from Jane’s front door, James Hand was fighting for his life in the face of the most famous charge of the American Civil War. When it was finally over, James’s friend, Charles McAnally– a future Medal of Honor recipient– penned an emotional letter to the soon to be mother-of-three. (1)

The 69th Pennsylvania Monument at Gettysburg as it appears today (Photo by Jen Goellnitz www.goellnitz.org)

James Hand was a native of Co. Louth, where he was born around 1834. He and Jane Phelan married in the Roman Catholic Church of St. Malachy, Philadelphia on 17th August 1856. The 1860 Federal Census found the couple living with their two young daughters in the 1st Division of the 20th Ward, where James worked as a painter. When war came he mustered in as a Sergeant on 31st October 1861, becoming a member of the 69th Pennsylvania’s Company D. He soon became fast friends with another member of the company, 1st Sergeant Charles McAnally from Co. Derry. By the time of Gettysburg, Charles had risen to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. On the 3rd July 1863, the Irish Pennsylvanians found themselves behind a small stone wall near Gettysburg, facing the full force of the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble assault. Two days later, Charles described to Jane what happened next:

Camp of 69th Regt P.V.

Near Gettysburg Pa

July 5th 1863

Mrs Jane Hand,

It is a painfull task for me to communicate the sad fate of your husband (my own comrade). He was killed on the 3rd inst he received a ball through the breast & one through the heart & never spoke after. I was in command of the skirmishers about one mile to the front & every inch of the ground was well contested untill I reached our Regt. The Rebels made the attack in 3 lines of Battle, as soon as I reached our line I met James he ran & met me with a canteen of watter. I was near palayed [played] he said I was foolish [I] dident let them come at once that the ‘ol 69th was waiting for them. I threw off my coat & in 2 minuets we were at it hand to hand. They charged on us twice & we repulsed them they then tryed the Regt on our right & drove them, which caused us to swing back our right, then we charged them on their left flank & in the charge James fell may the Lord have mercy on his soul. He never flinched from his post & was loved by all who knew him. He is intered along side of Sergt James McCabe, Sergt Jeremiah Gallagher of our Co & 5 others of our Co that you are not acquainted with. Our Co lost in killed wounded & missing twenty as follows: Killed 8, Wounded 10 & Missing 2. Although we fought the Rebels 10 to one on the 2nd & killed or captured a whol Corps our Co had only one man wounded that day. The loss in the battle of the 3rd was heavy but all did not discourage the boys, we were determined that as long as a man lived he would stand to be killed too rather than have it said that we left on the battle field in Pennsylvania the laurels that we so dearly won in strange states. The loss in the Regt killed, wounded & missing was one hundred & fifty eight & our Colnell & Lieut Colnell & 2 Capts Duffy & Thompson killed & Lieut Kelly & 6 officers wounded. We killed 6 Rebel Generals & nearly all the line officers & killed or captured every man that attacked us & [on] both days fighting. There never a battle fought with more determination, in the first days fight the Rebels had our battery on the first charge & we retook it again. Mrs Hand please excuse this letter as I am confused & I hope you will take your trouble with patience, you know that God is mercifull & good to his own. No one living this day was more attached than Jas & my self, when I was engaged in front he wanted to get out to my assistance. I lost a loyal comrade in him. No more at present from your Sorrowing friend,

Chas McAnally

Lieut Co “D” 69th

Regt P.V.

P.S. this letter will answer for Sergt McCabe he was shot through the head he died in 2 minutes after. McCabe had 35 cents of money & $20 he lent to Lieut Fay or our Co.

C. Mc. A.

We got no mail since the 19th ult the Rebs retreated last night. (2)

Captain Charles McAnally, detail from an image of the 69th Pennsylvania, 1865 (Library of Congress)

On 23rd July 1863, twenty days after his death at the Battle of Gettysburg, Sergeant James Hand’s third child was born. It was a boy– the couple’s first son. Jane chose the name James Charles for the infant. The choice of James was presumably for his father; one wonders if the middle name Charles was selected to honour the friend who had so kindly broken the news of James’s loss. Unfortunately, the newborn whose name may well have been a testament to a friendship forged by war would not long outlive his father. Philadelphia records show that James Charles Hand was buried in Old Cathedral Catholic Cemetery on 12th February 1864, at the age of just 7 months. Jane and her daughters would have to forge out their lives without both father and son. (3)

Charles McAnally survived 1863 to take part in the savage battles of the Overland Campaign. At Spotsylvania on 12th May 1864 he captured a Confederate flag in hand-to-hand combat, an act for which he would receive the Medal of Honor in 1897. Ending the war as a Captain in the 69th Pennsylvania, Charles died in 1905. (4)

Survivors of the 69th Pennsylvania at their old position in Gettysburg in 1887

*Punctuation and grammatical formatting has been added to the original letter for ease of reading. None of my work on pensions would be possible without the exceptional effort currently taking place in the National Archives to digitize this material and make it available online via Fold3. A team from NARA supported by volunteers are consistently adding to this treasure trove of historical information. To learn more about their work you can watch a video by clicking here.

References & Further Reading

James Hand Widow’s Pension File WC12280.

1860 US Federal Census.

Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Collection Name: Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records; Reel: 835. Original scan of record accessed via www.ancestry.com.

Philadelphia North American 3rd July 1863. A Desperate Battle at Gettysburg.

]]>8192'Induced to Enlist': The Last Letter Home of an Irish Draft Substitute in 1864http://irishamericancivilwar.com/2015/06/22/induced-to-enlist-the-last-letter-home-of-an-irish-draft-substitute-in-1864/
Mon, 22 Jun 2015 20:00:19 +0000http://irishamericancivilwar.com/?p=8151There is sometimes a perception that large numbers of Union troops– particularly in the latter months of the war– had been drafted into the Federal military. This was not the case. Of the c. 776,829 men whose names were drawn during the four Civil War drafts, only about 46,347 men (a little under 6%) ever...

]]>There is sometimes a perception that large numbers of Union troops– particularly in the latter months of the war– had been drafted into the Federal military. This was not the case. Of the c. 776,829 men whose names were drawn during the four Civil War drafts, only about 46,347 men (a little under 6%) ever seem to have actually worn Union blue. Of those who did not, more than 315,000 of those whose names came up were exempted, while over 160,000 simply failed to report in the first place. Tens of thousands chose to pay to commute their service, while in excess of 73,000 men furnished a substitute to take their place. Many Irishmen elected to serve as substitutes in the war’s later years, and in the majority of cases they were supplied by often unscrupulous middlemen– substitute brokers.* One such substitute was John McKeown. Some details as to how John became a substitute survive, as does the letter he wrote home to his wife from the front, just hours before the commencement of the 1864 Overland Campaign. (1)

Irish couple John McKeown and Margaret Christy were married in Philadelphia on 28th December 1863. John, who worked as a sawyer, was 21-years-old on his wedding day, nine years the junior of his 30-year-old wife. Their life together would be a short one. In February of 1864, Margaret remembered that her husband was induced to go to Pottsville. She didn’t see him for the next three days, but when they were eventually reunited Margaret remembered that John was ‘…in the Barracks at the corner of 23rd and Wood St. Philadelphia. He there told me that he had gone to Pottsville Pa. in company with a man named Billy Parker, who had paid him a small sum of money and induced him to enlist, while he was intoxicated with liquor. He further told me that his name had been placed on the Company rolls as John Carroll, and that it has been so entered by advice of the said Billy Parker.’ John gave his wife no explanation as to why he enlisted under an alias, but another friend would later claim that it was because McKeown was acting as a substitute for a drafted man whose name was Carroll. (2)

John wrote to his wife from the camp of the 71st Pennsylvania Infantry on 3rd May 1864. The movement of the Army of the Potomac that would commence the bloody Overland Campaign would begin the following day. That this advance was imminent is apparent from John’s letter, which relates that the shantys in which the men had been living had been knocked down. The young Irishman was evidently not an eager soldier, and speaks of his longing to get home to his new bride. Interestingly he claims that many others feel the same, and that desertion was commonplace. John describes some of the relatively rudimentary training he received before the anticipated ‘very big battle‘ of the summer. Clearly too there had been some falling out between John and his family, particularly his father– perhaps over either his marriage or his enlistment as a substitute. However, what is most apparent is John’s very deep affection for his wife. (3)

Bounty Brokers Looking for Substitutes (Library of Congress)

Phila May the 3d 1864

Dear wife I am going to send you these few lines to let you [k]no[w] I am in good health and I hope for to find you in the same. Dear Marget I have sent you a letter before this and I got a letter from you the next day which I was very glad to see. Marget we have nocked our shantys down and we dont [k]no[w] when we are to leave here. I do think very long for to get home for I have enough of this place the most of the men would like to get home the[y] are sorry for re enlisted again the[y] wish the[y] were home if the[y] wore the[y] say the[y] would not be lying in a hard bed. A good many of the men has deserted some of them has been catched and has got there hair shaved as white as snow and drumed around the camps and the benits [?] after there and then sent away.

The[y] say that we are going to have a very big battle this summer bigger than ever the[y] seen yet the[y] say it will put an end to the war. The[y] have tried us with our guns out in the field we were shooting at barrels we had 3 shots a piece I nocked the barrell down twice 3 hundred yards distance our Company is allowed the best in the Reegiment. I cannot tell exactly the time I will get home now unto after this battle but I hope you will get along to I do see you and I will do the best I can for you. Let me [k]no[w] if you got that letter from your folks yet we do not here any word about the letters stoping down here I hope it so the[y] dosent stop the mail for if the[y] would the men would all go away home as soon as the[y] would here it was stoped. Dear Marget do not fret yourself for I hope in God nothing will happen on me unto we meet together I [k]no[w] it is a very long time to wait to get seeing other but you will have to do the best you can. I do wiry [worry] myself very bad here for it is such a wile [wild] place not a house near you.

I do not care about there [their] box if my father had a sent one to me I believe I would a got it. Dear wife do not mind sending any box for a while yet I have been mustered in for another pay I do expect to get paid the middle of this month I have heard them say so. I will send you what I can for I have the best rite to send it to you are good to me since I left you and you shall get all my money. I have got the plug of tobacco in your last letter. I would like very much I was at home I would like to see Mis Nancy and Susan and Marget and I am glad that you and her is good friends. I send my best respects to her and Susan and Marget and if God spares me my health I will see them all and I am glad to here that Miss’s Nancy is well and all the girls I do not forget them. It is all lies that I sent money to my father if I did I would tell you about do not believe what you here. Let me [k]no[w] how little Johnn is doing I would like to see Johnn but poor felow I am far away from him. I send my love to you and him in the warmest manner.

Within a couple of days of this letter John was feeling the full brunt of battle, as Grant and Lee clashed for the first time in the Battle of the Wilderness. He would barely have time to catch his breadth before the next engagement, at Spotsylvania Court House. John’s ultimate fate is unclear; the regimental roster records his death in action at Spotsylvania on 11th May, while according to his wife he was wounded around the 15th and died in Fredericksburg as a result on the 19th. Regardless, it seems likely that this letter was John’s last to his wife. Margaret applied for a widow’s pension from her home at 623 South 15th Street in Philadelphia, but would struggle to prove her husband’s service due to his adoption of an alias; it would be some years before her efforts proved successful. (5)

‘Wanted A Substitute’ A Wartime Sheet Music Cover (Library of Congress)

*Beyond those drafted, many (including large numbers of Irishmen) chose to avail of substantial bounties in different localities to volunteer, as districts attempted to furnish enough men to avoid the draft. Many journeyed to those areas paying the most bounty money in order to obtain a hoped for windfall. This was another area in which brokers were extremely prominent.

**Punctuation and paragraph formatting has been added to the original letter for ease of reading. None of my work on pensions would be possible without the exceptional effort currently taking place in the National Archives to digitize this material and make it available online via Fold3. A team from NARA supported by volunteers are consistently adding to this treasure trove of historical information. To learn more about their work you can watch a video by clicking here.

]]>8151Bonds Between Women & Daguerreotypes of A Dying Man in 1862http://irishamericancivilwar.com/2015/04/28/bonds-between-women-daguerreotypes-of-a-dying-man-in-1862/
Tue, 28 Apr 2015 18:34:24 +0000http://irishamericancivilwar.com/?p=8016Families often relied on volunteer nurses to keep them informed of a loved one’s condition in hospital. Over time, bonds could develop between these caregivers and the soldier’s wives far away. The correspondence below, written by Emma Smith from St. Elizabeth Hospital, Washington D.C. to Sarah Welsh in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, are a case in point. This poignant collection of...

]]>Families often relied on volunteer nurses to keep them informed of a loved one’s condition in hospital. Over time, bonds could develop between these caregivers and the soldier’s wives far away. The correspondence below, written by Emma Smith from St. Elizabeth Hospital, Washington D.C. to Sarah Welsh in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, are a case in point. This poignant collection of letters charts in some detail the final days of Sarah’s husband Christy Welsh, a man who appears to have been unaware of his impending death. They also contain intriguing detail regarding a request from Sarah for an image of her husband– a request that precipitated an urgent effort to secure a ‘Daguerreotype Artist’ to expose the image of Christy while alive, before all that could be sent was a memento-mori. (1)

A nurse writes a letter home for a hospitalised soldier in 1863 (Library of Congress)

Irish emigrant Christy Welsh had married Sarah Boyle in Pennsylvania in 1843. The 1860 Census enumerated them in North Union, Fayette County, where they lived with Mary (15), Ann (12) Amanda (10) John (8), William (3) and Catharine (1). Another daughter Sarah– aged 5 in 1860– does not appear with them on the census. Of the couple’s stated six children in 1862, only John, Sarah and William were recorded as dependents under the age of 16. Christy was around 41-years-old when he mustered in as a private in the 85th Pennsylvania Infantry on 12th November 1861. The regiment was soon sent to Washington D.C., where on 29th January 1862 Christy was engaged in nightime sentinel duty at Fort Baker outside the city. In the pitch dark he stumbled, falling out of the fort and into the moat. The accident left him with a compound fracture of the thigh. It was that injury which ultimately resulted in his death at St. Elizabeth Hospital, Washington D.C., a little over seven months later. (2)

The first letter from Emma to Sarah was dated 2nd August 1862. It is apparent that Christy will die; clearly Sarah has asked Emma to get an image taken of her husband before the inevitable takes place:

St. Elizabeth Aug 2d 62

My Dear Mrs. Welsh,

Your letter received your husband is very gently sinking away– he does not suffer is very cheerful. His leg has not mortified but the heat of last month has worn on him and taken his appetite away. He takes egg nog & wine & brandy– anything he fancies we have in plenty– I have sent for a daguerrian artist I am expecting him every moment to take his picture– one of the men is now shaving & changing his shirt– he is much pleased with the idea of having it taken– may Our Father comfort you,

In heart sympathy,

yours,

Emma D. Smith (3)

A woman in mourning clothes holds an image of her husband during the Civil War (Library of Congress)

Emma’s next letter to Sarah is written two days later, after Christy’s death. The efforts to have his image exposed before his death are again to the fore, as are the circumstances which prevented this from happening. A memento-mori was now all that could be produced, which was to be sent to Sarah along with some of the clothing he was wearing in the daguerreotype. Emma closes the letter with a detailed account of Christy’s final hours, including a relation of how she told him the Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Unjust Judge:

St. Elizabeth Aug 4th

Monday

My Dear Mrs. Welsh,

Your heart is prepared I trust for the confirmation of all your fears. Last night, Sunday, Heaven’s gate opened wider, angels sung a song of welcome & escorted by an angelic guard your best loved one entered in to receive (no doubt) a victor’s crown– don’t think of him as dead, but gone before to wait and welcome you & the little ones he loved so fondly. Saturday morning he was very much interested in preparing to have his picture taken it seemed to give him new life he was shaved & had on a pink striped shirt, which he fancied very much– I carried him a box of collars and cravats to choose from not new ones but the best we had– he had one of the men stand before him & try several on & chose one which I will send you.

The artist disappointed us he could not get a wagon to bring out his instruments. I sent to town, as soon as I received your letter, for he tells me he spent hours in trying to find a conveyance– engaged one and the harness broke– he feels very badly about it– he came early this morn & has spent all day nearby trying to get a good one. I will send you the best one he took tomorrow.

I think it looks so peaceful– may it comfort you. I put the cravat he selected on for it to be taken. Saturday he was unusually bright & cheerful eat his usual meals & lunch at 11 o’clock– took egg nog– in the evening he had a chill but passed a comfortable night – Sunday morn he wished to be per[k]ed[?] again to have his picture taken– eat two eggs & some toast for breakfast– egg-nog and sponge cake for lunch stewed tomatoes & light pudding with a glass of wine and cup of milk for dinner. At three o’clock I read him one or two of the dear saviours parables in poetry the parable of the sower & the unjust judge– he said they were very good seemed much pleased with them– told me he had been a methodist fifteen years– his wife was a presbyterian spoke of the breast pin I had on asked its cost for his girls were to love pins and ear-hops– at half past three said he would have some egg-nog– at four another chill came on– after it he slept & passed gradually away. May God sustain you. I will write again soon– can I do anything for you. I feel as though I had known you years. The doctor has his descriptive list.

Yours in sorrow

E.D. Smith

I cut some of his hair off for you (4)

Emma sent a final letter to Sarah on 16th August 1862. In it the bond that has developed between the two women is clear– Sarah has clearly asked Emma details about her own family circumstances. Emma revealed that Christy was not aware he was dying, and she could not bring himself to tell him that he was:

St. Elizabeth Aug 16th 62

My Dear Mrs. Welsh,

Yours of the 10th was gladly received I shall be always sincerely glad to hear from you & your little family and shall feel nothing a trouble I can do for you. As you requested I’ve had the few clothes your husband brought put in his knap-sacks– he had a dress coat & over coat & a few little articles– I’m very sorry– he left his revolver in camp– he spoke of it several times and proposed giving it to a friend– I’ve forgotten whom. He thought to the last he would get well I do not think he was once pained by the thought of dying– it seemed only cruel to tell him– you know till almost the last we had hopes for him he always expressed strong christian hopes– he once spoke of the soldiers wickedness– said they could get along very well in health but when sick or wounded they would feel their need of something better– I think his hopes of Heaven were bright & strong. After I received your letter asking his feeling I tried in every way to draw them out but his mind wandered. I could not make him talk– the afternoon before he died a good army chaplain who had been preaching here to the soldiers came in to speak to him of Jesus.

Please don’t blame me for not telling him his situation I felt it would only make his heart ache with sad thoughts of leaving you– forgive me if I was wrong. I received a kind letter from Judge Ewing expressing kindest regard for your husband & his family. I have another small lock of your husband’s hair I saved one day when his hair was cut a few weeks since.

You kindly asked about my mother– she lives in Philadelphia– or rather she is boarding there, while I stay here– our native place is Providence, R.I.

Thank you for your kind interest in me– I wish there was something I could do to prove my earnest interest in your family– ’tis so pleasant to think that one day in Our Father’s happy home we shall all meet where there are no partings. My kind love to our little Douglass

Yours lovingly,

Emma D. Smith (5)

This is not the first time the site has examined issues surrounding memento-mori and the use of images following death. You can read the story of Sergeant James Fegan here. He had an image exposed of himself and his deceased wife which his officer described as ‘a mixture of the grotesque, the horrible and the piteous.’ In another example of how images were used, see the story of John and Mary McKenna here. When John was killed at Gettysburg while serving in the 70th New York, his comrades wrote to tell Mary that ‘your likeness was buried with him.’

A girl in mourning clothes holds an image of her father during the Civil War (Library of Congress)

*None of my work on pensions would be possible without the exceptional effort currently taking place in the National Archives to digitize this material and make it available online via Fold3. A team from NARA supported by volunteers are consistently adding to this treasure trove of historical information. To learn more about their work you can watch a video by clicking here.

]]>8016'Killed At The Surrender': The Journey of Two Irishmen to Their Deaths at Sailor's Creekhttp://irishamericancivilwar.com/2015/04/06/killed-at-the-surrender-the-journey-of-two-irishmen-to-their-deaths-at-sailors-creek/
http://irishamericancivilwar.com/2015/04/06/killed-at-the-surrender-the-journey-of-two-irishmen-to-their-deaths-at-sailors-creek/#commentsMon, 06 Apr 2015 16:48:46 +0000http://irishamericancivilwar.com/?p=7980There is something particularly poignant about those who lose their lives in the final throes of a conflict– deaths that come when the soldiers themselves are aware the end is in sight. In many cases, the timing of such deaths must have made it even more difficult for those at home to accept. 150 years...

]]>There is something particularly poignant about those who lose their lives in the final throes of a conflict– deaths that come when the soldiers themselves are aware the end is in sight. In many cases, the timing of such deaths must have made it even more difficult for those at home to accept. 150 years ago today, at the Battle of Sailor’s Creek, Virginia, yet more names were added to the butcher’s bill of the Civil War. Among them were Irishmen James McFadden and Thomas Brennan. The circumstances which led these two men to their fate could not have been more different; one had chosen to be there, the other had not been given a choice. Each of their stories had elements which must have accentuated the grief felt by those they left behind.

Massmount, Fanad, Co. Donegal, where James McFadden was married. Interestingly this isloated church and graveyard is also the final resting place of a number of my own direct ancestors. (Google)

James McFadden was from the Fanad peninsula in Co. Donegal. On 3rd December 1850 he had married Anna Duffy in the picturesque rural setting of Massmount Chapel. Sometime later the couple emigrated to the United States, where they made their home among large numbers of other Donegal Irish in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. If the couple did have any children, none survived into adulthood. When war came in 1861 James was an early volunteer. He mustered into Company G of the 23rd Pennsylvania Infantry, a 3-month-unit, on 21st April. When the opportunity came to re-enlist in the regiment for three years service he did so, becoming a private in Company F on 2nd August. The 23rd Pennsylvania were one of the colourfully uniformed zouave units, and over the course of the next three years James marched with them onto battlefields like Seven Pines, Chantilly, Second Fredericksburg, Salem Church, Gettysburg and eventually the Overland Campaign. The Donegal man was wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor in 1864, but was soon able to return to active duty. The 23rd Pennsylvania mustered out on 8th September 1864 having completed its service, but James didn’t go home with them. He had re-enlisted as a veteran, and along with the other men who had done so, was transferred to see out the remainder of his term in the ranks of the 82nd Pennsylvania Infantry, becoming a Corporal in Company E. (1)

In April 1865, as the Federals pursued Robert E. Lee’s Confederates following the fall of Richmond, the 82nd Pennsylvania was part of Horation G. Wright’s Sixth Corps. On 6th April they found themselves forming part of a Union line of battle at the Hillsman Farm sector of the Sailor’s Creek battlefield. Facing Rebels of Ewell’s Corps across Little Sailor’s Creek, they struggled through a ‘deep difficult swamp’ and ‘almost impenetrable undergrowth and forest’ to the attack, in the process taking a severe flanking fire from the Confederate lines. Changing front, the 82nd were able to engage the enemy and play their role in what would ultimately be a major Union victory. However, they sustained heavy losses– 19 men had been killed and a further 80 wounded. James McFadden was among them. He had survived almost four years of continual service only to fall just as the war was coming to an end. His loss would have been hard on Anna back in Philadelphia. When she wrote to the pension bureau with a query in 1888, Mary noted that her husband had ‘went all through the war, and was killed at the surrender of Richmond.’ That he had survived so much, only to be taken right at the end was clearly tough to take. (2)

Soldiers of the 23rd Pennsylvania Infantry playing cards (History of the Twenty Third Regiment)

The circumstances by which Thomas Brennan found himself at Sailor’s Creek on 6th April were very different to his fellow countryman. Unlike James McFadden, we don’t know where in Ireland Thomas was from. He had married fellow Irish emigrant Mary Grant at the St. Vincent de Paul Church in Minersville, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania on 13th May 1855. They went on to have a number of children, John (born c. 1856), Thomas (born c. 1858), Margaret (born c. 1860) and Patrick (born c. 1863). As has been examined in a recent post, Schuylkill County was home to a large community of Irish coal miners who were not afraid to challenge– sometimes violently– the authority of both their employers and the government during the war. Schuylkill had seen some of the most determined resistance to the draft witnessed anywhere in the north. Like the majority of Irish in the area, Thomas was a miner. The 1860 Census found the then 30-year-old and his 29-year-old wife living in the strongly Irish Cass Township in Schuylkill with their children. There is every chance that Thomas was just as opposed to the draft as many of his Irish miner colleagues; indeed he may even have participated in some of the widespread resistance to it. (3)

The authorities had such difficulty in drawing up a list of the men eligible for the draft in Schuylkill County that eventually officials were sent in backed by troops to seize the payroll of mine operators and get the miner’s details. Whether Thomas Brennan had given his information willingly or had them taken forcibly is unknown. Either way, his name was pulled in the draft at Pottsville and he was enlisted into Company A of the 99th Pennsylvania Infantry on 19th July 1864. On the 6th April 1865 the 99th Pennsylvania, part of Humphreys’ Second Corps, found themselves facing elements of Gordon’s Confederate Corps at the Lockett Farm sector of the Sailor’s Creek battlefield. Throughout the day they had conducted a series of charges against Confederate skirmish lines. Their brigade captured over 1300 enemy troops during their advance, also taking artillery and battleflags. It proved to be the last day on which the 99th Pennsylvania Infantry would lose men to combat during the American Civil War– and one of them was the coal miner Thomas Brennan. Mary Brennan lived in Schuylkill County for the rest of her life, dying there on 18th April 1903. Her husband had died in the final days of a conflict that he may well have felt little investment in. Did Mary harbour any resentment as a result? (4)

The circumstances which led James McFadden and Thomas Brennan to Sailor’s Creek were very different. One had been a volunteer from the war’s early days, fighting for the Union for the full four years of the conflict. The other had been drafted from an area renowned for it’s anti-draft sentiment, and was ordered to the front to help prosecute the war in it’s final months. The family’s of both would have had cause to feel aggrieved at their loss so close to the end of the dying. They would certainly not have been alone.

The Surrender of Ewell’s Corps at Sailor’s Creek by Alfred Waud (Library of Congress)

*None of my work on pensions would be possible without the exceptional effort currently taking place in the National Archives to digitize this material and make it available online via Fold3. A team from NARA supported by volunteers are consistently adding to this treasure trove of historical information. To learn more about their work you can watch a video by clicking here.

]]>http://irishamericancivilwar.com/2015/04/06/killed-at-the-surrender-the-journey-of-two-irishmen-to-their-deaths-at-sailors-creek/feed/47980Coal Mining, Draft Rioting & The Molly Maguires: From Laois to Schuylkill with the Delaney Familyhttp://irishamericancivilwar.com/2015/03/24/coal-mining-draft-rioting-the-molly-maguires-from-laois-to-schuylkill-with-the-delaney-family/
Tue, 24 Mar 2015 21:37:09 +0000http://irishamericancivilwar.com/?p=7864The Widow’s Pension Files often offer us the opportunity to explore the wider Irish emigrant experience through the lense of a single family. Such is the case with Private Thomas Delaney of the 19th Pennsylvania Cavalry. His family’s story allows us to travel with them, as they journeyed from the coalfields of pre-Famine Laois to...

]]>The Widow’s Pension Files often offer us the opportunity to explore the wider Irish emigrant experience through the lense of a single family. Such is the case with Private Thomas Delaney of the 19th Pennsylvania Cavalry. His family’s story allows us to travel with them, as they journeyed from the coalfields of pre-Famine Laois to the coalfields of 1850s Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. It allows us to follow them through the ups and downs of their personal narrative, even as the township where they lived played centre stage to a wider national narrative of labour organisation, draft resistance and the rise of the Molly Maguires.Ultimately, it ends by taking us from the Pennsylvania Coal Region to a hospital bed in Illinois, as a father hears news from his son.

Mining coal three miles underground in Pennsylvania, c. 1895 (Library of Congress)

Thomas and Catharine Delaney were married by the Reverend Father Grace in Rathaspick, Co. Laois in 1824. Their part of Ireland was known for one particular trade- coal mining. In 1837 an account of Rathaspick’s coal mines and the conditions in which the miner’s worked was recorded:

Here [Rathaspick] are the extensive coal mines of Doonane, worked by a company; they are drained by a steam engine, and supply stone coal to all parts of the surrounding country, which is principally conveyed by carriers. There are about five other works in the same range: the shafts are first sunk through clay, then succeeds a hard green rock, and next slaty strata, in contact with which is the coal: it is worked on either side by regular gangs, each member having a specific duty: the number of each gang is about thirty, and when the pit is double worked there are sixty; each crew works ten hours, but they are particularly observant of every kind of holiday. (1)

Although not stated anywhere, we know from Thomas’s subsequent history that he almost certainly spent decades as a miner in Rathaspick. Through their years in Ireland he and Catharine went on to have twelve children, eight of whom (four boys and four girls) survived to adulthood. Then, in 1854, the couple decided to take their family to America. When they arrived, they didn’t settle among the Irish of urban New York or Philadelphia. Instead they made for rural Pennsylvania, bound for a specific county in the eastern part of the state. Their final destination was Schuylkill County, at the heart of Pennsylvania’s Coal Region. (2)

When the Delaneys arrived in Schuylkill County, they were joining large numbers of their fellow Irish who were working the anthracite coal mines scattered throughout the area. Indeed, a large proportion of the Irish miners in 1850s Schuylkill had emigrated from the coalfields around Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny- only five miles from Rathaspick. As a result, the Delaneys were surrounded by former neighbours and work colleagues who they knew from home. (3)

Almost immediately upon arrival Thomas Delaney went to work in the industry he had come to know so well. He became a miner extracting coal from the Black Heath vein, but within two years of the family’s arrival they already faced a major setback. An explosion in the mine blinded Thomas in one eye, leaving him with only partial sight in the other. Although he was still able to work, Thomas’s capacity to provide for his family would increasingly diminish over the following years. (4)

Minersville, Schuylkill County, as it appeared in 1889. It is a town the Delaney’s knew well (Wikipedia)

The 1860 Census finds the family in the largely Irish Cass Township, Schuylkill County; Thomas and his eldest boys are all recorded as miners. One of the younger boys, Thomas Jr. (recorded as 15 in 1860) was just setting out on his mining career. Sometime that year he started work in the nearby Forestville mine. He joined some 1,590 miners who called Cass Township home in 1860, in a location that has been described as ‘the most turbulent area in the anthracite region throughout the 1860s.’ It would become a notorious location during the Civil War. Part of the reason for this was the fact that the miners were not afraid to organise themselves in order to achieve what they viewed as their working entitlements. This was nothing new; it was likely a propensity for organising themselves that Samuel Lewis was alluding to when he noted in 1837 that the Rathaspick miners were ‘particularly observant of every kind of holiday.’ (5)

By 1862 the miners in Cass Township were fed up, and many went on strike in search of higher wages. The Militia were called in to restart the mine pumps, but were forced to withdraw when they were attacked by rioters. Eventually over 200 troops had to be summoned to quell the situation. Not long afterwards, the Militia Act of 17th July, 1862 authorised the implementation of state drafts to supply the Union with men. Again, Cass Township responded. Up to 1,000 miners marched to a nearby town, where they stopped a train load of draftees heading towards Harrisburg- troops were again needed to quieten the area. The miners were just as angry with their employers as they were with the draft. In December 1862, up to 200 armed men from Cass Township attacked the Phoenix Colliery, beating up a number of men connected with the mine’s operations. The following March, when enrolling officers arrived in Schuylkill to record the names of men in the area for the Enrollment Act draft, they were driven off. One of the officers recalled how ‘it was uncomfortably warm, as the Irish had congregated, and, as we found, were determined to resist, and did by giving us four shots from a revolver (luckily none hitting us).’ Disturbances continued in the region throughout much of the war, and although they were by no means restricted to the Irish community, the Irish were frequently singled out as those culpable. Often exaggerated and almost hysterical reports were being sent to Washington. In July 1863 Brigadier-General Whipple reported that ‘The miners of Cass Township, near Pottsville, have organized to resist the draft, the number of 2,500 or 3,000 armed men.’ He also claimed they were drilling every evening, had artillery, and were commanded by returned soldiers. Eventually, the Provost Marshal sent officials backed with troops to seize the payrolls of mine operators, so their employees name’s could be added to the draft. The events in the 1860s saw the continued rise in Schuylkill County of a secret organisation known as the Molly Maguires, who would dramatically leap to prominence in the 1870s (read more about the Molly Maguires here). (6)

A Coffin Notice allegedly created by the Molly Maguires in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania in 1875 (Wikipedia)

The Delaneys from Rathaspick found themselves in the midst of these turbulent times. We don’t know what their views were, but it would seem likely that they shared many of the concerns of their fellow miners regarding their employers and the draft. Either way, they would have borne witness to life in one of the most agitated areas of the Union during the Civil War. But they also had problems of a more personal nature to consider during this time- chief among them was the death of Catharine Delaney, who passed away on 14th March 1862 in Minersville. Then, after four years in Forestville Coal Company, Thomas Jr. was enrolled in the Union army at Philadelphia on 15th October 1863. The young man became a Private in Company F of the newly formed 19th Pennsylvania Cavalry. That December he and his comrades were moved to Union City, Tennessee. In January 1864 Thomas Jr. was on picket duty in what were bitterly cold conditions. The weather took a severe toll on the men, freezing one of them to death. Both of Thomas’s feet were badly frozen and he was sent to hospital in Mound City, Illinois, his military career seemingly over. That February he wrote home:

U.S. General Hospital

Mound City Feb 9/64

Dear Father,

I now think it near time that I would let you hear from me and how I am. I am here in the hospital with me feet pretty badly frozen, other ways my health is good and I trust in God these few lines will find you in the enjoyment of good health. Let me know how the times are and how you are getting along, let me know if the work is brisk or not and if it is steady. Let me know when you heard from Dennis how he is getting along. We had pretty bad times of it down here and there was a great [number] of the soldiers badly frozen one man of our regiment was froze to death. The Regt has now started on an expedition which is to do some thing great. let me know how is Catherine and Patrick and James Given them my best love and I want you to send me Katys likeness. I dont know what they will do with me here as yet they may discharge me or probably send me to the Invalid Corps. I have not received any pay yet but I expect it about the middle of next month and when I get it I will send it to you. I want you to write to me as soon as you receive this letter.

I will send you all my money except what I want for tobbacco. Give my love to brothers and sisters and all inquiring friends and accept of the same yourself ,No more at present but remains your,

Affectionate Son

Thomas Delaney

PS let me know if John is home yet When you write direct your letter as follows

Thomas Delaney

U.S. General Hospital

Mound City Illinois

Ward J Bed No 17

write soon (7)

The Sisters of the Holy Cross, based in Indiana, served as nurses in the Mound City hospital during the Civil War. Located in a series of warehouses, each warehouse was designated as a ward, with 20 or 30 men assigned to each. On 22nd March 1864, Sister Mary Anne of the Order sat down to write the following letter back to Pennsylvania:

U.S. Genl. Hospital

Mound City Illinois

March 22d 1864

Mr Thomas Delany

Respected Sir,

It is my painful duty to inform you of the death of your son Mr Thomas Delany of the 19th Pa. Cav. which sad event took place in this hospital at four o clock on yesterday afternoon.

It must be a great consolation to you to hear that he died a happy and a holy death. He received all the rites of the church and was fortified by the sacraments in his last moments. He used to speak of you in the most affectionate manner and says it was you that taught him how to say prayers and his catechism. I send you a lock of his hair in memory of him. May his dear soul rest in grace amen. If you write to Dr. H. Wardner the surgeon in charge of Mound City Hospital he will send you his money or any other effects he may have had.

yours very resp.

Sister Mary Anne

A sister of the Holy Cross (8)

64-year-old Thomas Delaney senior was living in Philadelphia in 1867 when he started the process of applying for a pension based on his deceased son’s service. He claimed that all his sons had served in the Union army (it is unclear if this was true or not) and were all now laborers and mechanics. All his children bar his youngest daughter (14-year-old Catharine) were now married. It seems he had left the mining life in Schuylkill County behind, but was living in extreme poverty. His family’s story in America was interwoven with some of the most turbulent years in 19th century Pennsylvanian history, but, more importantly for Thomas, these years were also a period of personal loss, of both his wife of four decades and a beloved son. (9)

* None of my work on pensions would be possible without the exceptional effort currently taking place in the National Archives to digitize this material and make it available online via Fold3. A team from NARA supported by volunteers are consistently adding to this treasure trove of historical information. To learn more about their work you can watch a video by clicking here.

]]>7864'I Am Not Long For This World': An Irish-American Soldier Says Goodbye to His Familyhttp://irishamericancivilwar.com/2015/03/11/i-am-not-long-for-this-world-an-irish-american-soldier-says-goodbye-to-his-family/
Wed, 11 Mar 2015 21:02:30 +0000http://irishamericancivilwar.com/?p=7792The last post on the site examined a mother’s desperate attempts to contact her wounded son. Equally poignant are those letters, occasionally included in the files, which impart a soldier’s final words to his family from his deathbed. On 23rd February 1864, George Carl of the 7th Ohio Infantry sat by the bed of William...

]]>The last post on the site examined a mother’s desperate attempts to contact her wounded son. Equally poignant are those letters, occasionally included in the files, which impart a soldier’s final words to his family from his deathbed. On 23rd February 1864, George Carl of the 7th Ohio Infantry sat by the bed of William Brophy of the 29th Pennsylvania, in the Union General Hospital at Bridgeport, Alabama. William’s end was near, and both men knew it. The soldier was suffering from chronic diarrhea, a cause of death that was listed for thousands of soldiers during the war. Unable to write himself, William dictated a letter to George, addressing his last thoughts to his wife back home in Philadelphia. (1)

A hospital ward in a convalescent camp near Alexandria (Library of Congress)

Although William Brophy is recorded as being born in England in the 1860 Census, there is little doubt that he was a member of the Irish-American community. Quite a number of pension files demonstrate earlier Irish emigration to England and Scotland prior to the ultimate move to the United States. William’s wife Bridget (néeMulhall) had been born in Ireland, and all the affidavits associated with the pension claim were provided by individuals bearing Irish surnames. The couple had been married at St. James Church, Philadelphia on 14th February 1858. It appears that William had been married previously, as he had two sons whose birth pre-dated the union; Andrew born on 13th July 1851 and Michael born on the 12th March 1854. Bridget gave birth to a daughter, Mary Ann, on the 3rd October 1861. Mary Ann had not yet arrived into the world when 32-year-old William marched off to war. He had enlisted in Company D of the 29th Pennsylvania Infantry on 8th July 1861. (2)

William saw long and arduous service with the regiment over the course of the next few years, surviving a number of engagements. But by February 1864 illness looked certain to have done for him. Here is the letter he dictated to George Carl in Bridgeport during those final days:

Bridgeport, Alabama

February 23th /64

Dear Wife

With a sad heart that I write you this morning as it may be the last you ever will hear from me as I feal that I am not long for this world. but it greaves me much that I am not at home whare I could see all your loving faces once more before I leave this troublesome world but as it is gods will to take me away from you I hope that I may be better of in the better land. I hope that god may spare me a little longer but I thaught that I would write so as to have them ready at any moment if any thing should happen

well Dear Wife in regard to that money that James McMinon [owed?] it will not be long before it is dew and I hope that it will be of youse to you as I dont never expect to be thare again but if not in this world I hope in the next whare we will part no more

Well in regard to my backpay and bounty you can get someone to collect it for you as it will be of some youse to you give my love to my children and tell them of their father and to my brother and all friends and that I did not forget them

But I must close for the presant and maby for the last time in this world but hope that god may spare me a little longer but if not I will bid you all fare well hoping to meat you all in heavan

From your

Dear Husband Wm Brophy (3)

George Carl added the following note to the letter three days later, indicated William’s fate, which had befallen him the previous day:

February the 26 1864

Mrs Brophy

Sory to relate that your husbond Wm Brophy died yesterday and is buried hear at Bridgeport

When William died very few men from his unit were nearby. Those soldiers of the 29th Pennsylvania who had elected to re-enlist as veteran volunteers had left Bridgeport the previous December, heading home to enjoy their veteran furlough. As William lay dying in the General Hospital in Bridgeport, the majority of his comrades were back in Philadelphia with their loved ones. George Carl, the good Samaritan who wrote the letter for William and informed Bridget of his death, survived his war service. Bridget, who wasn’t yet 30-years-old when her husband died, re-married in 1867, wedding Irish laborer William Donnelly. William Brophy’s children would be unable to hold on to their father’s final words as a keepsake; the letter was submitted by Bridget to the Pension Office in order to claim a pension based on her husband’s service. After the war William’s body was moved to Chattanooga Military Cemetery, where he lies in Section H, Grave 11006. (5)

Chattanooga National Cemetery, where William Brophy is buried (Hal Jespersen)

*None of my work on pensions would be possible without the exceptional effort currently taking place in the National Archives to digitize this material and make it available online via Fold3. A team from NARA supported by volunteers are consistently adding to this treasure trove of historical information. To learn more about their work you can watch a video by clicking here.